The Arizona sentinel., 1887-11-19
IN THE APPENNINES.
Interesting Memories of a Delightful JCNr-
 neY to Italy.

Interesting Memories of Delightful JCNir-
 ney to Italy.
 It was at the inn at Poggibonsi that was offered one day for dinner dish of swallows. rejected it with indig- nation, which priest who was pres ent. thought very unaccountable, as he said they were very good to eat dld not dispute this, but suggested that 1t would fitly fall in the line of his cler- ical duties 10 preach against the whole sale massacre of small birds for culina- " purposes, which is besetting sin of the Italians.
 They are ftly punished by being food for mosquitoes themselves. The insects avenge the birds. In Paris the air is singularly free from insects, be- cause that purgatory of man is the paradise of birds the great asylum where that persecuted race finds refuge from the merciless guns and traps of peasantry In Italy all the inhabit- ants who can do so leave the plains for the mountains in summer, chiefly on account of the discomfort of the mos quitoes. Bat even in the mountains, if the absence of mosquitoes make the nights pleasant, the days are made miserable by swarms of flies, and the cattle chiefly suffer, as to secure them from flies they are shut up in dark stables instead of being left in open fields
 But there is little chance of the peO- pie learning better as long as the very priest thinks swallows good to eat and ignores the first principles of natural history. In the summer of 1856 we took refuge from the mosquitoes in hamlet near the central chain of the Apennines, where the scenery was singularly beautiful but inc accom- modation left much to be desired. It is about thirty miles from Florence and five miles from the nearest little town where provisions can be pro- cured.
 Starting from Florence, the way lies by the post road down the left bank of the Arno as far as Pontassieve, and thence, instead of turning t0 the right toward Vallambrosa follows up the stream of the Sieve to Dichomaf19 and St. Godenio. Seven miles up bill, through chestnut woods, lead to inc church and scattered hamlet of Cas- tagno which is place which Horace would have chosen. for its abundant Made and innumcrable springs, 10 lie on banks all day and write lyric poe try. The ancients had such exquisite words in which to express the charms of nature that landscape painting in colors does not seem to have occurred to them as a purpose or pastime, when they got into beautiful scenery, though their descriptions show that they thoroughly appreciated it. It is from the classic Greek and Roman that conception of the idyllic comes. It is not all grand or beautiful scenery that is idylIic. The sublimities of high Alps, sheer rocks, the illimitable sea, do not belong 10 it. nor any elements but those that suggest repose and content. Wales is idyllic rather than Switzer- land, and in Switzerland idyllic scenes are most abundant in the Canton of Appenzell, where the Sentes stands alone as suggestion of high Alps.
 Idyllic scenery may be compared to middlc-class society, with the maximum of education and refinement super added to modesty of fortune. It is the very home of the landscape paint CT, always suggesting 10 him that he had better remain where he is than go farther and fare worse. And it suits as well the student in whom the spir it of adventure is dead or dormant. The occupations of the inhabitants are pastoral rather than agricultural and one of its main conditions is freedom from fences and general accessibility.
 One of the most striking natural features of CastagnO is the mountain architecture. The main chain and spurs of the Apennines, as seen thence, are composed of horizontal layers. of sandstone, very fossiliferous in vege- table remains, and subject to disinte- grafton on a large scale. The valleys are covered with blocks and powders. and the stream beds, torrents in Tifl- ter, are choked with them. The prin~ eipal waterfalls, of which there arc many, slip down flights of steps. One of these, the object of many eXcur- sions, is reached by ascending the crest of the Apennines, to a spot where walls have been built to protect the posiroad which crosses from Florence to Rimini from the high winds. thence called Muraglione; and then following the crest for a few miles and decend- ing in'o most scqucstered valley on the R ,magna side of the chain. It is said to have furnished hints to one of Dlnte's descriptions. - Lel0ts s. WeathcrSJg in Sun FranciscO ChrOn- icle.